


This Is Us

by Seachelle623



Series: Whatever Happens...happens [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: At least it made me feel fluffy, College AU, Exchange Student AU, Fluffy, High School AU, Jaemin is being dumb again, Jeno is being worried again, M/M, Multi, Renjun enters an art competition, There's yuhyuck at the end, University AU, chenle is only in the opening scene sorry, idk if it's actual fluff but..., oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-02 21:47:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14554215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seachelle623/pseuds/Seachelle623
Summary: “Is it just me or is Jun ignoring me?” Jaemin asked Jeno once he had arrived at the table during lunch time, greeting everyone but getting no response from his shorter boyfriend. He saw Jeno look at him with a raised eyebrow.“You accidentally deleted three of the panels he was working on for that art competition. Who wouldn’t ignore you?”





	This Is Us

**Author's Note:**

> So this was what I was working on for a while (ever since Pining For Two Ended since it was meant to be the epilogue but I decided to make it an additional one shot instead) and it's finally done!
> 
> _________________________
> 
> I do not own NCT Dream or even NCT in general. All credit goes to rightful owners.

“Jaemin, you absolute _idiot!”_ Renjun’s voice resounded throughout the small bedroom as Renjun stared at the computer on his desk in disbelief, face mere centimetres away from the blinding screen. A sleepy groan was heard and a few rustles from one of the beds in the room, Renjun’s smaller Chinese roommate rising from his bed and fumbling in the dark for his phone. _I don’t_ care _if I love you with my whole being! You are_ dead _to me, Na Jaemin!_ Hissing as Chenle hit the light switch, he glared at the younger as he gripped the stylus in his hand for the graphics tablet that was on his lap.

“Ge? What are you doing screaming at four in the morning?” Chenle asked him as he showed his phone, rubbing one of his eyes sleepily. “We even have school later!” Sighing out dramatically, Renjun pointed to his computer and didn’t begin to care whether people were sleeping or not.

“Na _fucking_ Jaemin deleted three of my panels! There’s a week left until the deadline for the _Surreal Art Competition_ and I have to make _four_ panels now instead of my planned _one_ this week!” He shouted, feeling his blood boil when he thought about all of the sleep that he would lose between redrawing the three panels that one of his boyfriends had (probably accidentally) deleted when he looked through Renjun’s computer to look at his IT project. _I can’t believe he managed to accidentally delete them though! And it was the one time where I_ didn’t _update my hard drive!_

“Ge…calm down-“

“No! I am _not_ calming down because those panels were part of _our_ story!” He whined, feeling the tears building up in his eyes and not doing anything to stop them frombuilding up. “It was going to be so _good_ since I was raising issues-“

“Ge, seriously. You need to calm down,” Chenle stated, eyes locking onto Renjun’s own that were about to overflow with tears. “You can be mad at him _after_ you redraw the panels. You still have the past models of those panels, right?”

“Well… _yes_ but I changed a lot of things-“

“And you can change them again. I believe in you, ge. You’ll be able to do this.”

 

_I hope I will._

 

~ ~ ~

 

“Is it just me or is Jun ignoring me?” Jaemin asked Jeno once he had arrived at the table during lunch time, greeting everyone but getting no response from his shorter boyfriend. He saw Jeno look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“You accidentally deleted three of the panels he was working on for that art competition. Who wouldn’t ignore you?” _Ouch._

“Look, I don’t even know _how_ I deleted them, Jun! I’m sorry but can’t you just pull them out of trash?!” Jaemin half apologised and half complained exasperatedly, seeing something click in Renjun’s mind once he had heard the words.

“Oh yeah I can…” The older male mumbled and Jaemin let out a sigh of relief. “Doesn’t mean you’re off the hook though.” _Damn it._

“Okay, what do you want? Lifetime of cuddles? You kind of already have that,” He said, opening the plastic bag that he had brought that contained a sweet bun for his lunch.

“I want you to pay for two tickets to the Surreal Art Competition!” Renjun exclaimed over his packed lunch box of Chinese food. He had some food stuffed in his cheeks but thankfully, Renjun had enough manners to cover his mouth while he spoke. Jaemin shared a look with Jeno who was next to him.

“Okay…how much are they?” He asked cautiously and heard Jeno swallow whatever he was eating loudly over Donghyuck and Mark’s fight about their older boyfriends.

“They’re around 20 000 won each,” Renjun said nonchalantly, obviously in a happier mood than before now that he could retrieve the panels that Jaemin had accidentally deleted. _20 000 won each?! Goodbye luxurious money…_ Feeling Jeno sense his distress, he laid his head on the taller male’s shoulder and sighed. He whimpered when Jeno began to stroke his hair and place soft kisses on the top of his hair, wishing that he had more money to spare.

“Why only two though?” Jeno asked Renjun who was in the process of shoving another spoonful of his meal into his mouth, Jaemin chuckling along with Jeno since he looked like a deer caught in headlights with slowly reddening cheeks.

 

“Participants can go for free,” Renjun replied, shrugging and making Jaemin sit back up straight to look at his smaller boyfriend in the eyes while grabbing his other boyfriend’s hand for comfort. Somehow, holding Jeno’s hand as the other played with his fingers made his nerves less prominent and allowed Na Jaemin to be _Na Jaemin_.

“So you’re saying that you want to see the art competition with us?” Jaemin asked, needing clarification since Renjun never allowed them to visit any of the competitions that he had entered previously - even before the three of them dated. Vaguely, Jaemin heard Jeno choke (probably on his own saliva) at the realisation that _yes, Huang Renjun was taking them to an art gallery._

“Stop making it seem like a bad idea. This specific competition won’t email me to let me know if I made it in or not so the only way for the participants to find out if we were chosen is to go to the art display itself,” Renjun reasoned, packing up his lunch box before looking at both Jaemin and Jeno cutely. “Besides, I never made it to the other ones but I feel different about this one.” _You do realise you’re making me broke right?_

“Calm down, Jaemin. I’ll pay for my entry so you can buy whatever shit you want,” Jeno said and laughed Renjun’s offended expression.

“But he was meant to pay for _both_ of you since he deleted the three panels!” Renjun shouted, pouting slightly after and Jeno laughed in response as Jaemin prayed to the heavens that he would still have money after everything.

“And those panels are going to be recovered since you never empty out your trash can,” Jeno fired back, pointing childishly at the other. “Besides, I’d feel bad for myself if Jaemin did end up paying. He’s whine too much in the gallery.” Now it was Jaemin’s turn to have an offended expression as he squeezed the hand that was in his _hard_ and smiled wickedly when Jeno cried out in pain. He only stopped when he heard Renjun’s light laughter that was broken by wheezes of _‘Don’t kill him!’_ s and _‘Teacher’s looking’_ s. When he stopped, the three of them simply looked at each other and Jaemin couldn’t help but observe his boyfriend’s expressions. Jeno looked content and slightly amused whereas Renjun looked…worried?

“Baobei? What’s wrong?” Jaemin asked the smaller male, reaching out and watching Renjun’s hands come up from underneath the table to hold his outstretched hand with one as he grasped Jeno’s with the other.

“I just…hope that I’ll make it,” Renjun whispered to them, eyes cast down on the table and for once, it was Jeno who voiced the thoughts that Jaemin wanted to say instead of the other way around.

 

“You can do it, baobei. We believe in you.”

 

~ ~ ~

 

“How many have you gotten done?” Jeno asked Renjun when he visited the other with Jaemin in tow, both stepping into the humble apartment and taking off their shoes. Jeno watched as Renjun hummed and rubbed his eye sleepily, feeling worry overcome his being.

“Baobei, have you been sleeping?” Jaemin asked for the both of them, the younger moving to Renjun’s shoulders and squeezing them in comfort. Slowly, Renjun nodded but it seemed as if he was forcing himself to stay awake. _You need to sleep, Renjun._

“I’ve finished the last one which is a miracle since it’s still three more days to the competition deadline,” Renjun said to them, yawning at the end and leading them to the couch. Obediently, the other two followed as they exchanged worried looks between them. “I still need to do major editing.”

“You need to rest, baobei,” Jeno whispered to Renjun when he sat down on the couch beside him, arms coming around to embrace Renjun’s shoulders. He saw Jaemin bite his lip in worry before he laid down on the couch and placed his head in Renjun’s lap, looking up at him with his legs dangling over the armrest. _Please don’t overwork yourself, that’ll make Jaemin and I super worried. Also, Jaemin…your hair is all over the place, you couldn’t be bothered to fix it before you lied down?_

“Why do you keep looking down and not at us?” Jaemin softly asked the eldest, reaching up to touch Renjun’s cheek and heard Renjun hold back a sniffle. _Go on, cry. We’re here to make you feel better._ He began to slowly rock Renjun side to side.

“We’re here, you can tell us,” Jeno whispered to his boyfriends, burying his nose in Renjun’s hair as he felt the other’s body rock with silent sobs. _It’s our job. We signed up for this when we decided to date you._

“Shhhh, shhhh. It’s okay, you’ll be okay.” He heard Jaemin whisper, watching the other wipe Renjun’s tears but not bothering to wipe the ones that had fallen on his perfect face.

“I just…I’m scared because what if they don’t like it?” Renjun choked out, hands coming up to wipe his own tears only for Jaemin to push them away and continuing what he was doing. Jeno pressed soft and comforting kisses to the top of Renjun’s head in an attempt to calm the other down.

 

“Even if they don’t like it, we will,” He answered, Jaemin humming in agreement.

“Besides, your art pieces always look beautiful because they’re the exact embodiment of you,” Jaemin said, leaning up to kiss Renjun gently on the lips. _How am I so lucky to be dating both of these idiots?_ Jeno increased the number of kisses to Renjun’s forehead and tightened his hold on the smaller male.

“But what I did…it’s really controversial…” Renjun mumbled once Jaemin pulled away, grabbing Renjun’s hands and playing with them in mid air. Jeno chuckled at the adorable sight of his boyfriends, one looking so worried and the other’s smile being so carefree.

“And that’s really brave of you to even consider handing it in. Renjun, we’re proud of you for even creating those panels in the first place. What’s on them doesn’t matter to us,” Jeno replied, leaning down to kiss Renjun’s cheek before Jaemin leaned up to kiss Renjun’s chin.

“Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind,” Jaemin wisely quoted, smiling his angelic smile once more and making Jeno’s heart warm with fondness - knowing that Renjun’s did the same and beating faster at the realisation.

“We love you, Renjun. We love you so much and if they all criticise you for what you made, we’ll be right there to take that criticism with you,” He said softly and genuinely, Jaemin nodding along. Jeno rested his forehead against the smaller male’s, making sure that he was listening. “I love you,” He stated before kissing Renjun softly, pulling away when he heard Jaemin whine and smiling when he heard Renjun chuckle.

“I love you too, Jun! And yeah, I guess I love you, Jeno,” Jaemin teased, sending a wink Jeno’s way that made him laugh and curse Jaemin for making his cheeks heat up.

“I guess I love you then, Jaemin,” He replied before Jaemin shot up and abruptly pushed his lips onto his, humming in satisfaction when Jaemin bit softly at his bottom lip. Pulling away, Jaemin smiled once more at him and Jeno couldn’t help but smile back before both of them turned towards Renjun who was laughing and wiping the last of his tears.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry I broke down, guys…” Renjun mumbled, taking deep breaths to try and stop his tears from coming back as bubbles of laughter came out of his pretty mouth. _God I love them so much._ “I love you too, Jeno and Jaemin.”

“Thank _god_ , I was starting to think you hated me,” Jaemin said in relief, adjusting his position so that he was sitting in Jeno’s lap and leaning forward to give Renjun a kiss on the tip of his nose.

 

“Why are you on me?” Jeno asked, slightly annoyed since Jaemin didn’t give him any notice and decided that he would sit…literally on him.

“Because Renjun would probably break under my weight,” Jaemin replied easily, smiling when Renjun laughed at that and proceeded to cuddle into Jeno’s side. Surprised, Jeno turned to the smallest male out of all of them.

“And why the hell are you laughing at what he’s implying?” He asked, tone slightly angry but joking nonetheless. Renjun simply laughed before burying his face even further into Jeno’s chest and sighing out in content when Jaemin’s arms went around both of them.

“I don’t know, Jeno…I’m just…happy,” Renjun said airily, as if he almost couldn’t believe that he had them and honestly, so did Jeno. Just a year ago, he thought that the possibility of dating _both_ Huang Renjun and Na Jaemin was in the negative zone but…look at him now, arms wrapped around Renjun and feeling the elder’s heat mingle with Jaemin’s due to the arm that was around him…it was _perfect._

“You better be happy, I’m paying for two tickets to go to this gallery,” Jaemin threatened and Jeno looked at him in surprise. _I’m paying for my own though!_

“But I said that I would-“

“All you need to do is show up and look pretty, not that you’ll have any problem with that, baby,” Jaemin cut him off, smiling growing even wider at Jeno’s scoff and Renjun’s giggles. Taking one of his hands off Renjun to allow the small male to cuddle even more into his side, Jeno wrapped his free arm around Jaemin’s waist since it looked like the other would fall.

“I guess I can do that for you, babe. But only if baobei agrees,” Jeno smugly replied, leaning closer to Jaemin just to spite him. He heard Jaemin snort before the younger poked Renjun’s back.

“You do agree right, baobei?” He asked, begging tone coming into play as he tried to act cute. Hearing Renjun laugh out loud because of Jaemin was possibly one of the greatest things that Jeno had ever heard.

“Of course I agree, babe. You have to look good for us, baby,” Renjun replied, smirking up at Jeno after and laughing when Jeno looked away because _oh my god why is my face so hot right now?! This isn’t the first time they’ve said things like that!_

 

_But either way, I’m not trading this for the world._

 

~ ~ ~

 

“It’s not…it’s not here yet…” Renjun mumbled as he continued to walk with his boyfriends in the gallery, both hands intertwined with theirs. _Did I really not make it through? Well…most of the art here doesn’t make any statements so it’s possible I was disqualified…but I really wanted them to see it!_

“Jun, calm down. We haven’t gone through the whole gallery yet,” Jaemin whispered in his ear as Jeno squeezed his hand lightly.

“There’s still that whole hallway there that we haven’t seen,” Jeno piped up, smiling contagiously and helping calm Renjun’s anxiety a little.

“Yeah…I just…really wanted to make it, I guess…” He mumbled to himself, following Jeno who was leading them and dragging Jaemin who always spent too much time looking at the art along. They had passed numerous artworks that showed surrealism in it’s greatest form - suited the theme of surrealism more than Renjun’s mere five panels did. There was one of a hand that was typing on a laptop but multiple laptop keys were fused on top of the hand, the caption reading _‘We can only depend so much before we become what we depend on’_. There was also one of a digitally drawn hand coming out of a phone screen and holding the wrist of a person taking a selfie with that specific phone, the caption reading _‘For those who only see themselves and not the dangers they place themselves in’_. Passing by numerous other pieces, Renjun couldn’t help but feel his stomach sink with disappointment since his mere five panels of his memories with Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin were probably too controversial to even put in the gallery.

“Hey, Jun…isn’t that your signature?” He heard Jaemin ask him, head turning to see the one artwork that he had been hoping to lay his eyes on ever since they had entered the gallery.

“Wait…is that…is that _us_?” He heard Jeno ask incredulously and Renjun smiled happily to himself because _he fucking made it._

 

_I made it into the gallery so now everyone can know about how much I, Huang Renjun, love my boyfriends, Lee Jeno and Na Jaemin._

 

~ ~ ~

 

Jaemin stared at the five pieces of artwork in front of him - the ones that his very boyfriend, Huang Renjun, had created.

“That is us, Jeno…” Jaemin replied to his other boyfriend who was also viewing the five panels in awe and mirroring his own expression. _Is this why Renjun didn’t want to show us when he was making it?_ Upon closer inspection, each panel had it’s own designated caption but all of the panels told a story… _their story._

 

The first panel was the smallest and consisted of two people sitting opposite each other in a small cafe. _That’s the cafe they went to every Tuesday. The same cafe that I didn’t want to go to since I didn’t want to interrupt their dates…_ It was obvious from the physical structure of the figures that they were both male, one hosting dark brown hair whereas the other had jet black. _That’s obviously Renjun and Jeno._ The one with dark brown hair had his head resting on the table, arms spayed out that they barely reached the other side. The one with jet black hair simply stared down at the other male with a fond expression, smiling softly with his eyes. _I’m amazed that Renjun was able to capture this much in a simple digital drawing._ However, what spiked Jaemin’s interest the most was their shadows that were reaching out to each other but not touching. It was as if the shadows were telling a story of their own, sharing an experience that no one else would ever be able to share. Others would have interpreted the shadows to have been trapped and limited within their constrictive lives but Jaemin _knew_ that wasn’t the case and he knew that Jeno _knew_ the real cause as well.

 

“Jun…the first one…” Jeno started, looking down at the artist who simply stared at his pieces on the wall in gratefulness. “The reason why our shadows aren’t touching…it’s because we wanted Jaemin as well, right?” _That’s what I thought too…_ Nudging the smallest one out of all of them with his elbow, Jaemin noticed that Renjun was still in his own little world and exchanged a worried glance with Jeno.

“You think he’s good?” Jaemin asked him, too scared to take his eyes off Renjun because _what if something’s wrong?_

“He must be since he’s not throwing up or anything,” Jeno replied, exchanging another look with Jaemin before turning back to the panels. Jaemin turned his head back to observe the remaining four panels that were left.

 

The second one was bigger than the first and depicted two people in a small corner of a library - their _school_ library - as they studied. It showed the same dark brown mop of hair but also another male, a different male, with a lighter shade. _Is that meant to be me?_ The light brown haired male seemed to be reading a book (upon closer inspection, Jaemin realised that it was his maths textbook) with his eyebrows furrowed in concentration as the dark brown haired male stared at him, mouth slightly open. The way that Renjun had drawn the two of them…Jaemin couldn’t describe how beautiful the digital drawing looked with the effect of the light hitting all the right angles to make Renjun’s face look more angelic than he originally thought. _Is this our study sessions? I never actually studied though…_ Once more, the shadows within the picture of the two males were obviously looking at each other from where they were on floor but this time, Jaemin could see that the heads of the shadows were incredibly close but not touching. _Because we needed to tell Jeno first._

 

“Hey, you actually look like you’re studying,” Jeno commented, pointing to the second panel with his free hand and making Jaemin glare at him from where he was rooted to his spot.

“Yeah, I study,” He retorted, obviously lying and he knew that Jeno knew he was lying since he laughed out loud.

“Alright, you study but only when Renjun’s there because you study his face.” Jaemin huffed in frustration and observed Renjun once more with a worried gaze, Jeno following suit at the absence of Renjun’s witty comments.

“Maybe he’s broken?” Jeno asked, worried eyes piercing his own and Jaemin noticed that the other’s lip had started to tremble.

“Baby, we’ll find out what’s wrong, don’t worry,” Jaemin assured him and Jeno nodded stiffly, Jaemin silently panicking but putting on a front because _if I panic, Jeno panics and that won’t be easy to handle._

“Do you think we should take him outside?” He heard Jeno ask and contemplated the suggestion. _Outside means fresh air. Fresh air means a clearer mind. Also means that Renjun will be able to breathe more easily-_

 

“No!”

 

Both Jaemin and Jeno flinched at the high pitched protest, eyes travelling down to first look at Renjun’s worried face and then to their hands that the smallest male was currently holding in a death grip.

“I want…I want you two to see all of the panels. Like, actually _see_ them,” Renjun mumbled, casting his eyes down to the floor and Jaemin felt his heart swell with adoration and just the plain feeling of being _loved_ -

“Na Jaemin, your inner gay is showing,” Renjun said lowly while Jeno outright laughed. _Huh? What?_

“Seriously? ‘Just the plain feeling of being loved’? Very specific and very poetic,” Jeno commented sarcastically, snickering before he turned back to the panels and encouraging Jaemin to do the same.

 

_Let’s see what the other panels have to offer…_

 

~ ~ ~

 

Jeno observed the third panel that was displayed on the wall with Renjun’s signature. He saw every detail from how worn out the tracks of the field were to the very smiles that were on the faces of the three males featured. Light brown hair, dark brown hair and jet black hair were shown as three males were drawn walking back to the stands, side views facing the audience as they all seemed to be in deep conversation. The jet black haired male was in the middle and had his arm around the smaller dark brown haired male as he smiled to the light brown haired male. Both of the other two were hosting happy smiles as well and that alone made Jeno’s heart swoon because that was when they had greeted him a happy birthday. _That’s when we started dating…Renjun, Jaemin and myself…all three of us…_ Jeno noticed that Renjun’s main style of surrealism within the panels were the shapes of the shadows and the story that the shadows seemed to be telling. Although the only contact that the males themselves were having was the slight brush of Jaemin’s and Jeno’s character’s hands along with the arm that Jeno’s character had around Renjun, the shadows were all holding hands and mirroring what they were doing right now.

 

“That was when we started dating…Jeno’s birthday at the athletics carnival…” He heard Jaemin whisper softly to himself, chuckling since the other only realised _now._

“Yeah…that was the scariest day of my life.” He said, laughing when Jaemin protested because it was meant to be the best day of his life. It was soft but Jeno heard Renjun giggle and he knew that Jaemin had heard too since the other male smiled and sent him a look of relief that he copied.

“How can it be the worst?” Renjun asked from between them, side eyeing Jeno and smirking in amusement. _At least he’s back to being himself._

“In case you two forgot, you both kissed me _without_ my consent before you even told me that you two liked me,” Jeno explained, looking away and admiring the way that Renjun had drawn their characters so that they stayed true to their builds.

“Don’t say you didn’t like it,” Jaemin shot back, most likely turning back to observe the other two panels along with him and leaving Renjun to giggle once more between them.

 

The second last panel showed all of them in that weird cuddle party that they had on the couch the day that Jaemin had fallen sick (Jeno refused to think about what happened the day after since Renjun was twice as feisty than usual). He saw the expression that Renjun had drawn on Jaemin, one of content as the youngest slept, he saw the detail of Renjun’s hand in Jaemin’s hair, Renjun’s head leaning back as he looked up at Jeno’s character and smiling softly. Lee Jeno also saw the fond expression on his own character’s face and felt it rest itself on his own face, eyes crinkling as he lightly squeezed Renjun’s hand because _goddamn these artworks are beautiful._ This time, the surrealism wasn’t in their shadows but rather, in the background. When Jeno looked closer, he saw that Renjun had used real life pictures that they had taken over the course of their relationship and friendship, overlapping them all but making sure that all of their smiles of joy and delight were shown. _That’s the wonders of art…saying everything that can’t be put into words…_

 

“Renjun, why did you put that photo of me?! I look like I’m drunk!” Jaemin screeched out, pointing to one of the photos that were in the bottom right region. Indeed, Jaemin’s face was one of the most stupid that he had ever seen the younger do and couldn’t hold in his laughter any longer. “Lee Jeno! Stop laughing!”

“I’m sorry,” Jeno wheezed out, Renjun joining in with his own laughs that drowned out Jaemin’s whines. “It’s just your face now isn’t much of an improvement.” Watching Jaemin huff, pout and then glare at the last panel was about one of the most adorable things that Jeno had ever been a witness to. He didn’t realise that he was staring at the younger until he heard Renjun whisper his name.

“Have a look at the last one, Jeno.” Was all he said before turning back to the panels and causing Jeno to do the same.

 

_What’s in the last one?_

 

~ ~ ~

 

Renjun had never felt more nervous than that one moment when his two boyfriends were staring at his last panel - the most difficult panel that he had drawn and that had been both physically and mentally taxing. It was a shot of both Jaemin’s and Jeno’s faces from his point of view, their eyes were only focused on what was in front of them and causing them to stare at the audience with fond smiles and expressions of adoration. The element of surrealism that he had chucked in (other than his boyfriend’s visuals because they were surreal in themselves) was the reflection of himself that he had placed in each of their eyes, expression surprised and unbelieving since he couldn’t believe that they were _his_. In all of the panels, their faces were only partially revealed but in the last one…all of their faces were drawn immaculately and as accurately as possible for people to know that _yes, they are human and they exist._ Smiling to himself and holding his boyfriends’ hands a little tighter, Renjun read over the captions that he was glad the judges had allowed him to keep underneath each of the panels.

 

 

_First Panel: The reaching out for the last piece._

 

_Second Panel: The wait for the last piece._

 

_Third Panel: The puzzle is complete._

 

_Fourth Panel: The memories that the solved puzzle had instigated._

 

_Fifth Panel: The realisation that the puzzle pieces are yours._

 

 

Holding his breath, Renjun carefully looked at his boyfriends who were staring at the last panel in awe. _What if they don’t like it? What if they think what I did was stupid? What if-_

“Renjun…fucking hell,” He heard Jaemin mumble as the younger released his hand and gave him a big side hug. On the other side of him, he felt Jeno do the same with his arms encasing both of Renjun’s and Jaemin’s forms.

“I’m so fucking proud of you, baobei,” Jeno whispered to him, Jaemin nodding along as he placed a soft kiss to Renjun’s forehead that was followed with Jeno’s own kiss to his temple.

“I’m just glad you two like it…” He admitted, loosely wrapping his arms around their waists and smiling up at them in relief. “I thought you two didn’t since you didn’t say anything for a while…”

“Like it? You can’t digitally draw five panels of us and expect us to hate it, baobei,” Jaemin chastised, slightly glaring down at him but showing how proud he was anyway.

“We love it, baobei. Just like how we love you,” Jeno added on, smiling brightly at him with his eyes becoming those _adorable_ half moons.

“Thank you…thank you for loving it,” Renjun whispered out, hugging his boyfriends tighter and pulling them closer before a small cough interrupted their moment. Breaking apart, Renjun was shocked to see Donghyuck with the exchange student that Taeyong was hosting for the next two and a half years.

“Funny seeing you three here,” Donghyuck said in greeting, smiling softly and revealing how happy he was for all three of them. Renjun smiled back and waved at the taller male beside one of his closest friends.

“Well, participants need to know if they made it,” Renjun explained, shrugging at the end before watching Jaemin do a weird hand gesture between the exchange student and Donghyuck. Chuckling at his antics, Donghyuck brought up their interlaced hands that Renjun had failed to notice earlier.

“We’re here because _this_ guy, Nakamoto Yuta, was one of the judges since the it was the university he was in that hosted the competition,” Donghyuck explained and Renjun heard Jeno make a sound of realisation. _Wait but…none of the judges names were ‘Nakamoto Yuta’…_

“I was under the name _‘Yukkuri’_ on the information sheet,” The exchange student - Yukkuri or Nakamoto Yuta - explained when he saw Renjun’s confused expression. _Wait…Yukkuri? You mean_ -

 

“The one that created the artwork ‘Annoyance of the Sun’ that was shown as an example of surrealism on the poster of the competition?!” Renjun exclaimed, remembering the photo of the eye with the sunset drawn inside the pupil against the stark silhouette of two people sitting together. “ _That_ Yukkuri?!” He watched in amazement as the exchange student laughed sheepishly and softly.

“I know I’m a mere graphics design student but it was actually the photography club that I’m a member of that decided to hold the competition,” Yuta said, smiling brilliantly and _wow, his smile…but Jaemin’s wins._ “We all made something that we could put on that poster and mine just happened to get the most votes.”

“He’s really good, isn’t he?!” Donghyuck piped up, smiling widely and proudly as he rested his head on the older male’s shoulder.

“Get _off_ me, Hyuck,” Yuta grumbled out but was only met with a Donghyuck’s annoying whine. Renjun felt himself chuckle at the pair while Jeno shook his head as he smiled and Jaemin whipped out his phone to take a picture of the two.

“You suit each other,” Jaemin commented as he reviewed the picture and Renjun watched as the younger moved that specific picture into a folder named ‘Blackmail’.

“Like really suit each other. You both seem to be annoying as hell,” Jeno said, laughing when Donghyuck glared at him from where he was, head resting on Yuta’s shoulder. Renjun didn’t miss how Yuta tried to hold back his smile as he kept forcing an annoyed expression. _They really do suit each other, jut like how we do._

“Could that be the reason that you named your artwork ‘Annoyance of the Sun’?” Renjun teased and saw Yuta’s eyes widen in fear and worry as Donghyuck’s did in realisation.

 

“Oh my _god_ , is _that_ why you asked to take a picture of my eye?!”

“In my defence, I didn’t know that it was going to be chosen! I thought you would never know I made it!”

Laughing along with his boyfriends at the bickering couple, Renjun couldn’t help but realise that he had done the exact same thing - only, he _wanted_ his to be chosen.

“Anyway, I’m assuming you’re the creator of the panels?” Yuta asked him as he struggled to keep pushing Donghyuck’s face away from his own, the tanned male not doing anything to make his job any easier. Nodding, Renjun felt Jaemin slip his hand back into his as Jeno walked behind him to give him a back hug.

“Our Renjunnie did well, didn’t he?” Jaemin asked in a cute voice, clearly only doing so to spite Donghyuck who visibly cringed.

“Never fucking do that voice again, Jaemin,” Donghyuck deadpanned, stopping his struggle and making several disgusted faces as Renjun felt Jeno’s chest rumble with his chuckles.

“Do you know who won the competition, Yuta-hyung?” Jeno asked the older male who smirked and raised an eyebrow.

“You three didn’t realise that there were ranks next to the titles?” Yuta replied, pointing at the title of Renjun’s artwork. As his eyes travelled up, Renjun heard the cheers and screams of Donghyuck, Jeno and Jaemin before he could even register the rank that was staring right back at him in the face.

 

_This is Us_ _by Huang Renjun_

_First Place Winner_

 

~ ~ ~

 

“Holy fucking shit, Huang Renjun!” Jaemin screeched at the top of his lungs, ignoring the odd looks that other people in the gallery were giving them. He heard Jeno scream something out that was inhuman as Donghyuck simply screeched his highest note. The three of them nearly drowned Renjun in the hug that they gave him, shaking him from side to side as all three of them attempted to give him some action of affection - Donghyuck aiming to ruffle his hair as Jeno and Jaemin fought for kisses on the forehead.

“Argh! Guys! I can’t breathe!” He heard Renjun scream (albeit, adorably) from beneath them and immediately jumped back, the other two males doing the same. They all looked at each other to see who was going to make the first move before Donghyuck lurched forward…only to be pulled back by Yuta.

“You guys can celebrate outside. Security are telling us to get the hell out,” Yuta stated, promptly dragging Donghyuck out the gallery and leaving Jaemin to laugh with his boyfriends.

“Really though, congratulations Renjun. They chose your artwork for first,” Jeno said and Jaemin nodded, taking one of Renjun’s hands into his own as Jeno claimed the other one.

“Let’s go and grab some ice cream, I’ll pay,” He said softly to his artist of a boyfriend before Jeno roughly dragged Renjun who in turn dragged Jaemin because security were beginning to usher them outside.

“Free ice cream? Yes please,” Jeno said once they reached outside and Jaemin snorted which made Renjun giggle.

“Pay for your own, eye smile,” He retorted, kissing one of Renjun’s cheeks. “I only pay for winners.” He heard Renjun giggle at that and sent the older male one of his angelic smiles.

“But Jeno’s a winner too,” Renjun said innocently, making both Jaemin and Jeno to look at him in confusion. “He won our hearts.”

 

_Well, I’m going to die today…my wallet is crying…and so am I because fuck you heart for speeding up at that._

 

“Guess I do get free ice cream then, babe,” Jeno pointed out annoyingly, smug look on his face that Jaemin wanted to slap off (or kiss off, either one was fine).

“I guess we both get free ice cream then!” Renjun chirped, shooting Jaemin a mischievous smile before sharing an evil one with Jeno.

 

_Curse both of you. No one said that having two boyfriends would be this demanding._

 

“We’re not _that_ demanding…” Renjun reprimanded, Jaemin’s cheeks colouring when he realised that he had spoken out loud.

“Even if you two were that demanding, I’d still love you two,” Jaemin replied, kissing Renjun on the forehead and blowing Jeno a kiss as well, giggling when Jeno childishly tried to catch it. _What a dork._

“Oi! Hurry up, you three!” Donghyuck shouted at them from where he was in a precarious headlock that was being carried out by Nakamoto Yuta.

“I get you three are dumb and in love but hurry up!” Yuta shouted and laughed when Donghyuck slapped him for screaming in his ear.

 

~ ~ ~

 

_This is what I wanted to tell everyone through those panels…that this is us._

 

“Renjun? Come on,” Jeno called out to him and that was when Renjun realised that his boyfriends had began walking towards Donghyuck and Yuta, his own arms outstretched since they were a few steps ahead.

“What? You win a competition and then decide to let your boyfriends decide everything for you? What happened to your independence, baobei?” Jaemin asked teasingly, smirk evident on his face when Renjun lightly shook his head to clear his thoughts. Running ahead, Renjun laughed to himself when he saw the Jeno had reacted quickly and ran alongside him, helping him drag Jaemin who nearly tripped on air.

“Hurry up, babe! Our ice cream won’t pay for itself!” He shouted, laughing even more when Jaemin rolled his eyes and began to run with them all the way to the ice cream parlour.

 

 _Yeah…this is us…and even if it’s controversial because an ideal relationship has two people of opposite genders, it doesn’t matter because it’s_ us.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some things that you guys might want to read or not (idk):
> 
> 1) Pining For Two has reached 300 kudos so this is like a 300 kudos special (kinda idk I just finished editing it)
> 
> 2) Every piece of surreal art that was described (that weren't the five panels made by Renjun) are actually artworks that I am currently working on for my actual assessment for surrealism...yeah I was going to put the pictures in here but decided against it since describing things is what I'm good at but if anyone wants to draw inspiration from the panels I described for Renjun's artwork, be my guest and show me yeah? I'd love to see Renjun's panels come to life and I would draw it if I actually had time ;-;
> 
> 3) Does this mean my break is over? Well...no. There are some things that I still need to work out since I'm not in the perfect mindset right now but I will upload some chapters from time to time if I miraculously finish editing them. 
> 
> 4) Thank you for showing so much support for my work, it really means so much to me because it shows that I'm making people smile and that's just a big thing for me.
> 
> 5) How did you guys like this? It was meant to be the epilogue but I decided that it would be stronger as a one shot since there are very few references to Pining For Two and the panels have their own story anyway. I'm still a bit disappointed with how it turned out because my writing flow isn't as great as I want it to be because of difficulties but then again, I am really harsh on myself with my works so I want to see how I did and if you could let me know if it was good, that would be really appreciated. ^_^
> 
> 6) KEEP SMILING (and I'll do my best to smile even though it's a bit hard right now) AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME WHEN I'M ON MY BREAK PLEASE (I will always remember you guys too)!
> 
> 7) [UPDATE 9/8/18] It's been a while since I posted this story and it's grown to be so much more than the simple Pining For Two plot that I had thought of in the middle of math class. Since this fic has managed to reach 201 kudos (It's only a one shot too!!) then I have decided to actually have enough courage to post some of my art that made a cameo in this story. Here is the link if anyone is interested: https://seachelle623.tumblr.com/
> 
> THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 200 KUDOS!


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